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1 Kings 18:9-24

1 Kings 18:9-24 AMP

But he said, “What sin have I committed, that you would hand over your servant to Ahab to put me to death? As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent messengers to seek you; and when they said, ‘He is not here,’ Ahab made the kingdom or nation swear that they had not found you. And now you are saying, ‘Go, tell your master, “Behold, Elijah [is here].” ’ And as soon as I leave you, the Spirit of the LORD will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I come to tell Ahab and he does not find you, he will kill me. Yet your servant has [reverently] feared the LORD from my youth. Has it not been told to my lord [Elijah] what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred of the LORD’S prophets by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water? And now you are saying, ‘Go, tell your master, “Elijah is here” ’; and he will kill me.” Elijah said, “As the LORD of hosts (armies) lives, before whom I stand, I will certainly show myself to Ahab today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah. When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Are you the one who is bringing disaster on Israel?” Elijah said, “I have not brought disaster on Israel, but you and your father’s household have, by abandoning (rejecting) the commandments of the LORD and by following the Baals. Now then, send word and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of [the goddess] Asherah, who eat at [Queen] Jezebel’s table.” So Ahab sent word to all the Israelites and assembled the [pagan] prophets together at Mount Carmel. Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people [of Israel] did not answer him [so much as] a word. Then Elijah said to the people, “I alone remain a prophet of the LORD, while Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Now let them give us two oxen, and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the LORD; and the god who answers by fire, He is God.” And all the people answered, “It is well spoken.”

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